Making Murder Sound Respectable
By Bob Mumby
1/5
()
About this ebook
"Political language… is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind." – George Orwell
The Fascist and Communist dictatorships left a bloody stain on the 20th Century, leaving tens of millions dead in their wake and a bitter taste in the mouth for hundreds of millions more when they encounter those ideologies. But what if they had never got the opportunity to do that damage?
A world where the Russian Revolution didn't produce a Communist superpower, and Hitler never found success at the ballot box. A world where the political fears and tensions of the 1930s continued, unmolested by the pressures of total global war.
In Making Murder Sound Respectable, Bob Mumby explores this world through a very different British election night, from the perspective of a group of students watching the results on television. While they worry about what kind of curry they want, events unfold in the background that reveal a glimpse of a radically different world. Communist and Fascist thugs clash in the streets, and foreign commentators pontificate on whether the Union Party has strayed too far from Oswald Mosley's principles, while far from Britain's shores the forces which have been contained for a century may yet be unleashed.
Read more from Bob Mumby
Many A Hero Untold Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChasing Shadows Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRemain Means Remain (and other stories) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Making Murder Sound Respectable
Related ebooks
President Ashdown Is Retiring Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBoristopia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAbe Lincoln On Acid: Immortal Lincoln Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hinterland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wall Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPresidential Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tippecanoe and Wallace Too Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThree Days In Yangon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow Tall Is The Grass In Germany? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOut of the Blue Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsApocalypse How Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Unreformed Kingdom Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWho will speak for England? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Curse of Maggie Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings10 Leaders Britain Never Had Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYou've Always Had It This Good Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Not An English Word Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Boy in the Storm Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAgent Lavender Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDaughters of Elysium Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShuffling the Deck Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEternal Caesars Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsZonen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChamberlain Resigns and Other Things That Did Not Happen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDouble Play Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Only Winning Move Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Sea Eagles Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Reid in Braid Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Limpid Stream Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Red Führer: The Red Führer, #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Alternative History For You
She Who Became the Sun Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Electric State Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas: A Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Making History: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Man in the High Castle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Aftermath Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Yiddish Policemen's Union: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Diana Gabaldon's Best Reading Order: with Summaries & Checklist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Plot Against America: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi: A new fantasy series set a thousand years before The City of Brass Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lost in Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tales From the Loop Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wind's Twelve Quarters: Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Future Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Literature Help: Esperanza Rising Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Mirage: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Before She Sleeps: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kingdoms Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Magic in the Mud Show Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Accidental Christ: The Story of Jesus (As Told by His Uncle) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daughter of Time: The After Cilmeri Series, #0.5 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The King's Daughter Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Beautiful Spy: From the million-copy Sunday Times bestseller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lavinia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil's Advocate: The Epic Novel of One Man's Fight to Save America from Tyranny Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Strange Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Civilizations: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Eifelheim Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Making Murder Sound Respectable
1 rating0 reviews
Book preview
Making Murder Sound Respectable - Bob Mumby
Making Murder Sound Respectable
Bob Mumby
First published by Sea Lion Press in 2016
This is a work of fiction. While ‘real-world’ characters may appear, the nature of the divergent story means any depictions herein are fictionalised and in no way an indication of real events. Above all, characterisations have been developed with the primary aim of telling a compelling story.
Part 1
'Right, I've got Chomp up, what does everyone want?'
'Um, a lamb biryani, please.'
'That already has rice, doesn't it?'
'Yeah, it’s mixed in.'
'Righty ho. Alice?'
'Er, what do they have?'
'Just come and look over my shoulder.'
'Okay. Ooh, I like the look of that.'
'Yup. You need a rice.'
'Oh, just plain.'
'Urgh, plain.'
'Shut up.'
'I will. Keema rice for me, because I'm not happy if my carbs don't also come with protein. Aaand, a korma.'
'That’s a bit boring.'
'I know, but it’s going to be a long night, don't want to have to leave half way through to have nasty pain.'
'Nice. Just pass me the comportable.'
'Yeah, I'll do that too, it makes more sense than trying to guess.
'Okay.'
Alan handed over his comportable, and left the room. Taking a right, he entered the kitchen, and grabbed two crates of beer. He smiled; tonight was going to be quite something. This was the first election he had been old enough to vote in, and he had managed to organise an all-night beer and curry session with his mates. Alice had said something about an Election Night Drinking Game, but Alan thought it was unlikely they'd get especially pissed, it would distract them from their curry and from having more spontaneous fun.
When he returned to the living room, his mates had already made their choices on Chomp. Alan pressed 'enter' and within the hour, all the curries they desired would be at their door. He settled into 'his' chair (you know, technically it was the university's, but he always sat there, so it was his), and turned on the televisor. Frederick Dimbleby glared out into the room, and they went quiet.
'-nd welcome to the BBC's election centre. We'll only really get going at 10pm, when we will be legally allowed to publish our exit poll. But that isn't for another twenty minutes. Elections are notoriously difficult to predict, and this is no exception. Will the government cling onto power, or will they be driven from office. A hung parliament looks likely, but any number of combinations are possible. George Snow will be explaining what’s happening on the laser display screen.' Dimbleby gestured, and the patrician figure of George Snow appeared. He waved his arms about and several coloured bars slid across the screen behind him, their computer generated nature interacting with the visibly real world in a deeply disconcerting way.
'Welcome to the new edition of the legendary Score Board, updated for the 21st century. This line,' he said, jabbing at a virtual white strip that bisected the equally length bars, 'represents the threshold needed to attain a majority. Here are the parties as they now stand.' All of the bars shrank behind the line, representing the current situation. 'As you can see the Nationals are the largest party but at the last election did not get enough seats to govern alone.' The camera went back to Dimbleby, who looked a little more relaxed and a little less like a Southern European dictator.
'Thank you, George. If none of the major parties can govern alone, one of the smaller parties will be in the limelight. Will the Unionists be able to keep their seats warm at the cabinet table? Will the CPGB get